BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

FILED
OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 2-08-17
04:59 PM

In the Matter of the Application of California- A.12-04-019

American Water Company (U 210 W) for (Filed April 23, 2012)
Approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water
Supply Project and Authorization to Recover All
Present and Future Costs in Rates.

DECLARATION OF RUTH STONER MUZZIN IN SUPPORT

OF MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICTS
MOTION FOR ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS AND FOR
RECIRCULATION OF THE JANUARY 13, 2017 NOTICE OF
AVAILABILITY OF THE COMMISSIONS DRAFT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT /
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT AND
RE-COMMENCEMENT OF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
(PUB. RESOURCES CODE 21092, subd. (b))

MARK FOGELMAN
RUTH STONER MUZZIN
FRIEDMAN & SPRINGWATER LLP
350 Sansome Street, Suite 210
San Francisco, CA 94104
Telephone: (415) 834-3800
Facsimile: (415) 834-1044
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]

Attorneys for Marina Coast Water District

Date: February 8, 2017

 DECLARATION

I, Ruth Stoner Muzzin, declare as follows:

1. I am an attorney at law, licensed to practice as such in the State of California,

an associate with the law firm of Friedman & Springwater, LLP (F&S), and one of counsel to

the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD), in this proceeding before the California Public

Utilities Commission (Commission) and in other matters before the courts. I am admitted to

all state and federal courts in the State of California, the United States Court of Federal

Claims, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

2. My business address is 350 Sansome Street, Suite 210, San Francisco,

California 94104.

3. I have personal knowledge of the matters stated in this declaration and if called

as a witness, I could and would testify competently thereto.

4. MCWD is a party to this proceeding, Application (A.) 12-04-019.

5. Beginning on Tuesday, January 24, 2017, on behalf of MCWD, F&S attempted to

access and review the documents referenced in the Draft Environmental Impact Report / Draft

Environmental Impact Statement (DEIR/DEIS) for the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply

Project (MPWSP), which is the subject of A.12-04-019.

6. The Notice of Availability (NOA) of the DEIR/DEIS that was released by the

Commission in relation to the MPWSP on Friday, January 13, 2017 indicated that the documents

referenced in the DEIR/DEIS were available for public review at the Commission with prior

arrangements, but the NOA did not provide any name, telephone number or email address for

public use to make such prior arrangements. A true and correct copy of the NOA is attached

hereto as Exhibit A.

7. Because the NOA listed no contact information to arrange access to the

documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS, on Tuesday afternoon, January 24. 2017, I telephoned

the Commissions Energy Division, and at that time I spoke with Ms. Mary Jo Borak to request

arrangements for MCWDs access to the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and

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Appendices thereto, including groundwater modeling.

8. During our January 24, 2017 conversation, I understood Ms. Borak to indicate

that, along with hard and electronic copies of the DEIR/DEIS and Appendices available for

public inspection, she had an electronic set of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and

Appendices, but not including the groundwater modeling, on a thumb drive.

9. During our conversation I inquired about making an advance appointment, as set

forth in the NOA, for access to the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and Appendices,

and I also offered to provide portable media to the Commission for its use in copying all of the

documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and Appendices, including if necessary providing

an external hard drive for download of voluminous groundwater modeling files.

10. Ms. Borak indicated that she would get back to me as soon as possible concerning

arrangements for MCWDs access to the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and

Appendices, and that she would also check and get back to me concerning access to the

groundwater modeling referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and Appendices.

11. Over the course of the ensuing week, in email exchanged with Ms. Borak, I

offered on January 25, 27 and 31, 2017 to provide any portable media necessary for the

Commissions use to make a copy for MCWD of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS,

i.e., the documents on the thumb drive that she mentioned during our January 24, 2017

conversation, as well as the groundwater modeling. A true and correct copy of my February 1,

2017 letter to Ms. Borak is attached hereto as Exhibit B, which includes as an attachment all of

my emails exchanged with Ms. Borak from January 25 through 31, 2017.

12. As reflected in the email trail that is attached to Exhibit B, Ms. Borak indicated on

January 25, 2017 that a web-based means of accessing the documents MCWD requested might

be forthcoming shortly.

13. As reflected in the email trail that is attached to Exhibit B, I offered on January

25, 2017 to make an appointment to visit the Commissions offices, for the purpose of accessing

and obtaining an electronic copy of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS; however no

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such appointment was forthcoming and no web-based access has been provided, except on

February 1, 2017 as to a limited set of groundwater model files as described below.

14. As reflected in the email trail that is attached to Exhibit B, I inquired of Ms.

Borak again on Thursday and Friday, January 26 and 27, 2017, concerning the status of the

Commissions arrangements for web-based access to the documents referenced in the

DEIR/DEIS, as well as the groundwater modeling files; however no access was provided to

MCWD.

15. As reflected in the email trail that is attached to Exhibit B, I inquired of Ms.

Borak again on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, concerning the status of the Commissions

arrangements for web-based access to the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS, as well as

the groundwater modeling files, with particular reference to the present impediment to the ability

MCWDs experts to continue work on preparation of MCWDs comments, as well as the need

for sufficient advance access to ensure that preparation of MCWDs comments would proceed

with the required approval of its board of directors, as a public agency; however, although Ms.

Borak did respond and indicate that Commission technical personnel were working on uploading

over 15GB of data, access to the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and the Appendices

and access to the groundwater modeling was still not provided to MCWD.

16. On February 1, 2017 I checked the Commissions web-page for the MPWSP, at

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/esa/mpwsp/comms_n_docs.html, at which time I

noticed a new link to groundwater modeling data and program files for the MPWSP.

17. By February 1, 2017 I still had heard nothing further from Ms. Borak or anyone

else at the Commission to make arrangements for MCWDs inspection and/or copy of the

documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and Appendices, aside from the groundwater model

data and program that were posted online that day.

18. Subsequently on February 1, 2017, I wrote to Ms. Borak to a) reiterate MCWDs

request for access to all of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS, and b) express

MCWDs concern that the Commission was not in compliance with the public notice and public

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access requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as to its NOA for

the MPWSP DEIR/DEIS and requesting recirculation of the NOA. As indicated above, a true

and correct copy of my February 1, 2017 letter to Ms. Borak is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

19. On February 2, 2017, Ms. Borak emailed me, indicating that the data for the

MPWSP groundwater model had been uploaded to the Commissions website and that notice of

that upload would be provided to the service list for A.12-04-019.

20. On February 2, 2017, I responded to Ms. Borak by email, thanking her for notice

of access to the groundwater model materials, informing her that notice to the service list for

A.12-04-019 had been received, and reminding her that MCWD was still awaiting access to the

remainder of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS and again offering to provide the

necessary portable media to copy such files. A true and correct copy of my February 2, 2017

email exchange with Ms. Borak is attached hereto as Exhibit C.

21. On Friday, February 3, 2017, having heard nothing further concerning

arrangements for MCWD to access all of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS, I wrote to

Ms. Borak again, indicating that a) MCWD was still awaiting either an opportunity to make an

electronic copy of the documents or inspect them in person, and b) MCWD was continuing to

request the Commission 1) make all of the documents referenced in the DEIR/DEIS readily

accessible to MCWD and the public as required by CEQA, 2) re-issue the NOA, and 3) re-

commence the comment period on the DEIR/DEIS. A true and correct copy of my February 3,

2017 letter to Ms. Borak is attached hereto as Exhibit D.

22. On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 7, 2017, I received correspondence from

Jonathan Koltz, Staff Counsel in the Commissions Legal Division, which indicated that: Mr.

Koltz was responding to my letters to Ms. Borak; a separated response would be forthcoming

concerning potential extension of the comment deadline; and the Commission declined to

comply with MCWDs request to recirculate the NOA and re-start the running of the comment

period on the DEIR/DEIS. A true and correct copy of Mr. Koltzs February 7, 2017 letter to me

is attached hereto as Exhibit E.